Anita Stewart McCafferty, EdD

Dr. Anita Stewart McCafferty is Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Educational Leadership and Adult & Higher Education Department at the University of Southern Maine. Dr. Stewart McCafferty came to the University of Southern Maine with 18 years of experience as a k-12 teacher and administrator and seven years of experience as a part-time faculty member for undergraduate and graduate students at the community college and university levels. Dr. Stewart McCafferty served as the assistant principal of Mattanawcook Junior High School in her hometown, Lincoln, and then as principal of Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden. 

As Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Southern Maine, Dr. Stewart McCafferty has taught 12 different graduate courses in the master’s, Certificate of Advanced Studies, and Ph.D. programs in the Teacher Leadership and Educational Leadership (administrator) programs. Courses taught include those in supervision and evaluation of teachers, organizational behavior, administrator internships, curriculum development, middle level curriculum and teaching, analysis of teaching and assessment, research methods, educational leadership, and contemporary educational policy.

Dr. Stewart McCafferty is serving as the Program Lead for the accelerated online master’s programs in Teacher Leadership with a Concentration in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment as well as the master’s program in Educational Leadership with tracks for Principalship (Building Administrator), Curriculum Coordinator, and Special Education Administrator). Anita has spearheaded the curriculum development efforts and the translation of the courses into the online platform for the accelerated online programs. Anita served for five years as the Co-Director of Southern Maine Partnership, a university-preK-12 partnership comprised of over 30 school districts. She has also served on numerous school and college-wide committees, such as promotion and tenure, curriculum, leadership, Libra, mentoring, scholarship, Title III, the Professional Education Committee (PEC), and the Professional Development Center (PDC). In 2018 Dr. Stewart McCafferty received a three-year gubernatorial appointment to the Maine Commission for Community Service, representing the education sector.

Dr. Stewart McCafferty’s research includes: assessment literacy; technology use, including social media, and its impact on work-life balance for principals and superintendents; service learning; and effective professional learning. She regularly presents at regional and national conferences. In 2018 Dr. Stewart McCafferty co-authored the book Teaching Strategies That Create Assessment-Literate Learners (first author). Since 2013 she has published five articles (as first author of three) and two research reports with the Center for Education Policy, Applied Research, and Evaluation. She also created the Mentoring Teachers training program for the Maine Department of Education, which is the official training materials for all mentoring of K-12 teachers statewide. As part of the teacher evaluation legislation, she published a guidance document for school districts in Maine around assessing student growth. Since 2016 Dr. Stewart McCafferty has collaborated with the Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (UMaine, Orono) to create assessment for learning modules for STEM teachers across Maine.